Game Time:  7:10 PM ET, Thursday, June 9th,  2022 

Venue: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio

Where to Watch: MLB.TV 

DraftKings: Moneyline: 

 Caesars: Moneyline:  

PointsBet: Moneyline: 

(will update)

Athletics: 20-37, Last place AL West

Guardians: 25-26, 3rd place AL Central

The baseball season is heating up literally as the summer descends on us.  Major League Baseball is only a week to 10 days away from the NBA Finals leaving them a space as the “only game in town”....  This season has produced great play form the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Minnesota Twins, the Houston Astros (who most likely have found a new way to cheat), the Milwaukee Brewers, and New York’s other team the New York Mets!  It is all so exciting… However you should from time to time take a break from betting hard to predict great matchups… and put a little money on an awful American League matchup like the Oakland Athletics of the West division and the Cleveland Guardians of the Central division…. “Why would I bet on that?... I don’t even want to watch it!”.  That is the point.  Great Betting Opportunities are often easier to find when searching the bottom of the standings instead of the top.  The outcome is easier to predict because the numbers are BAD.  The trends are easier to spot because these teams rarely miss a chance at disappointing their fans.  If you are a fan of either of these clubs?.... I’m not joking at your expense, I'm commiserating with you.  My wife’s twin sister was a Clipper girl in the late 90’s.  So for a while in my life the only free tickets I ever got to any Sporting event was for the Los Angeles Clippers when Michael Olowakandi was their Center…. So you have my empathy. The bad games are not games you have to watch, but they are games you can make money on.

The Oakland Athletics have only won 1 of their last 10 games. They are on a brutal 7-game losing streak.  It is speculated that the owner is deliberately tanking to get to move the team to Las Vegas… yes, similar to the plot of the movie “Major League”.  They have been a part of 5 Overs, 3 Unders and 2 Push in that span. Ouch.  They are bad.  They rank worst or second worst in every offensive category I use to evaluate a team’s line-up.   The pitching is better but not by much… landing in the bottom third in the league in every major category.  They lose a lot.  They got swept by the Boston Red Sox 0-3, they got swept by the Houston Astros 0-3, they went 1-2 against the Texas Rangers, and 0-1 against the Atlanta Braves.  The Athletics have lost to great teams, average teams, and bad teams.  The fact that they have 20 wins on the season is a testament to how there may be some scraps of flavor buried in the trash bin of the abattoir.  

The Cleveland Guardians have won 7 of their last 10 games.  Not a bad haul for a team mired in the middle of the AL Central division… or for that matter the middle of all of baseball.  The GUARDIANS (I have to keep reminding myself to not write the old name) are 1 game below .500.  Their offensive numbers are good to just above average… their pitching numbers are good… Nothing Great here… nothing Horrible.  Just a team that is not terribly exciting or successful.  They are in fact very much like the city they play in… bland.  The Guardians went 1-1 against the Texas Rangers, 2-1 against the Baltimore Orioles, Swept the Kansas City Royals 3-0, and 1-1 against the Detroit Tigers.  7 wins in 10 tries may signal an upswing for the Guardians or it may just be a product of some of the bad teams on the list… But that is the point!  The Guardians can handle a bad team.

Scott Rickenbach is 9-2 in the last 7 days of MLB picks!  That is a profit of $6,700!  Go get it! Get Scott Rickenbach’s picks!!…They are available right now at the Shop Picks Page,where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers.  And stay with BigAl.com for all your favorite sports… MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, NCAAF, NCAAB.  Remember winning a wager is more fun than making the wager! 

The Athletics are 29th in scoring with 3.25 runs per game, 30th in batting average with .209, 30th in OBP with .274.

The Guardians are 9th in scoring with 4.59 runs per game, 12th in batting average with .244, 17th in OBP with .311

The Athletics pitchers are 22nd in ERA with 4.19, 21st in WHIP with 1.30, and the team is 23rd in fielder’s errors with 37 on the season.  And for a team that was at the epicenter of moneyball… they sure give up a lot of walks: “as good as a hit”.

The Guardians pitchers are 11th in ERA with 3.73, 6th in WHIP with 1.16, and the fielder’s rank 15th in errors with only 28 on the season.  These numbers all seem good?... Why are they a game below .500?  The answer is they play in a weak division.  They get a steady stream of bad teams to beat up on which helps the numbers.

Our prediction for Thursday June 9th is…  Guardians 7 - Athletics 2

Bet on the Guardians.  The Guardians have shown that they can handle the bad teams in series after series… It’s the good teams that stump them.  Well here comes a really really bad team.  Don’t worry about the Over/Under as the Athletics can’t be relied on to score, nor can they be relied on to stop the other team.  That leaves a feeling it could go Over… but not a certainty by any means

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(will update)

Athletics: CF S Bolt (oblique) Out ** RF S Piscotty (calf) Out ** SS K Smith (knee) Quest

Guardians: RF F Reyes (hamstring) Out ** 

Athletics: TBD.  The Oakland Athletics are still deciding who will take the mound for them.  It’s tough finding a guy that will be just average enough.

Guardians: LHP Konnor Pilkington, 1-0, 2.65 ERA, 23 strikeouts in 17 innings pitched.  1.59 WHIP.  The 24 year old greenhorn has a big arm.  We only have a very small 17 innings of play to judge him by… but 23 strikeouts in 17 innings in the Bigs is a pretty great start.  

Athletics: 2B Tony Kemp, SS Elvis Andrus, RF Ramon Laureano, DH Jed Lowrie, LF Chad Pinder, 1B Seth Brown, 3B Matt Davidson, C Sean Murphy, CF Christian Pache

Guardians: CF Myles Straw, SS Amed Rosario, 3B Jose Ramirez, 1B Owen Miller, DH Josh Naylor, RF Oscar Gonazalez, 2B Ernie Clement, C Luke Maile, LF Oscar Mercado

Athletics: Mark “thankless job but somebody has to do it” Kotsay

Guardians: Terry “you’re telling me” Francona

 

Partly Cloudy, 69* Humidity of 67%.  Wind that will top out at 15 mph.  20% chance of precipitation.  Soggy, flat, lifeless… and the weather ain’t great either.